West Ham United footballers with Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal in the starting line-up suffered a 2:5 debacle in the 34th round of the English league in the London derby at Crystal Palace. After Thursday’s elimination from the Europa League by Leverkusen, the “Hammers” fans had to endure another disappointment.
Crystal Palace took points from Liverpool at home a week ago and continued their winning streak in style. West Ham have struggled defensively, not keeping a single clean sheet in 13 league games since the start of January, but haven’t had such a start for a long time. After twenty minutes, he was losing 0:3.
The highlight of the misery was an own goal by Italo Emerson following a misunderstanding with the goalkeeper. The Frenchman Mateta added two more hits, meanwhile Souček was enough to set up a goal for the Jamaican Antonio with a header, and the home team’s own goal eased the loss in the end.
At the end of the first act, Souček received a yellow card for unsportsmanlike behavior and coach Moyes did not let him go in the second half. Coufal stayed on the field until the bitter end. After the second loss in a row, West Ham’s return to cup Europe is very complicated.
On the contrary, following leaving the Europa League, Liverpool developed a taste for the domestic scene. They won 3-1 at Fulham and moved within points of leaders Arsenal. Defending champions Manchester City are a point back but have a game postponed due to Saturday’s cup semi-final. Alexander-Arnold signaled the visitors’ victory with a great free kick, and even though the opponent managed to equalize, the Dutchman Gravenberch and the Portuguese Diogo Jota secured the points for the favorite following switching sides.
After success in Thursday’s penalty draw in the Conference League in Lille, Aston Villa will be the only ones to defend the honor of the cradle of football in Europe. And following today’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth, in fourth place, they can keep thinking regarding being in the Champions League next year. At the same time, the match was not going well for her.
Solanke scored his 18th league goal from the penalty spot, but Rogers equalized just before the break and Watkins set up two more goals following the change of sides.
Everton beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 to move within four points of their nearest rivals just above the relegation zone. Both teams would have breathed better if they hadn’t lost points due to a breach of financial rules. Nottingham lost four, Everton even eight.
Everton are plagued by low productivity, having scored just six goals in the previous nine rounds.
But following Monday’s 0-6 debacle at Chelsea, he bounced back to claim victory. Senegalese midfielder Gueye opened the score, McNeill added the insurance at the end and the national team goalkeeper Pickford kept the home team with several great saves.
Another goal was not scored even during the set-up, which was extended to seventeen minutes due to treatment of the home team Beta. The Portuguese striker left the pitch on a stretcher and with an oxygen mask following a collision with an opponent.
English Football League – Round 34:
Everton – Nottingham 2:0 (29. Gueye, 76. McNeil), Aston Villa – Bournemouth 3:1 (45.+1 Rogers, 57. Diaby, 78. Bailey – 30. Solanke z pen.), Crystal Palace – West Ham 5:2 (32nd and 64th Mateta, 7th Olise, 16th Eze, 20th own Emerson – 40th Antonio, 89th own Mitchell), Fulham – Liverpool 1:3 (45.+2 Castagne – 32. Alexander-Arnold, 53. Gravenberch, 72. Diogo Jota).
Table:
1.
Arsenal
33
23
5
5
77:26
74
2.
Liverpool
33
22
8
3
75:32
74
3.
Manchester City
32
22
7
3
76:32
73
4.
Aston Villa
34
20
6
8
71:50
66
5.
Tottenham
32
18
6
8
65:49
60
6.
Newcastle
32
15
5
12
69:52
50
7.
Manchester United
32
15
5
12
47:48
50
8.
West Ham
34
13
9
12
54:63
48
9.
Chelsea
31
13
8
10
61:52
47
10.
Brighton
32
11
11
10
52:50
44
11.
Wolverhampton
33
12
7
14
46:53
43
12.
Fulham
34
12
6
16
50:54
42
13.
Bournemouth
33
11
9
13
48:60
42
14.
Crystal Palace
33
9
9
15
42:56
36
15.
Brentford
34
9
8
17
52:59
35
16.
Everton
33
10
8
15
34:48
30
17.
Nottingham
34
7
9
18
42:60
26
18.
Luton
34
6
7
21
47:75
25
19.
Burnley
34
5
8
21
37:69
23
20.
Sheffield United
33
3
7
23
31:88
16
Note: Everton lost 8 points and Nottingham 4 points as penalty for breaching financial rules.
